Badagry Heritage Museum – The First Colonial Administrative Building

The Badagry Heritage Museum is also known as the Black Heritage Museum Badagry and it is one of the oldest tourist sites in Nigeria. It is located along the Badary Marina and it was the first Colonial administrative office in Nigeria.
The Badagry Heritage museum was built in 1863 as the first District office of the British colonial government. It played a major part during the colonial era.

About the first Colonial Administrative Block in Nigeria / The Black Heritage Museum

The Badagry Black Heritage Museum was built in 1863 as the first administrative block for the British colonial masters. It was built as an administrative office to cater for day to day administrative purpose of the British Government in Nigeria.

Video of Badagry Heritage Museum

It became a museum On August 22, 2002, after it was inaugurated by Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the former Governor of Lagos state during the Black Heritage Festival in Badagry.
The Badagry Heritage Museum holds more information about the slave trade and the people of Badagry.

Badagry witnessed the export of 500,000 slaves throughout its over 300 years slave era.

Where is Badagry

Badagry is located in Lagos, South-West Nigeria. It is a coastal city which shares a border with the Benin Republic. The City of Badagry was founded around 1425AD. The major occupation of its residents are fishing and farming, Legend has it that the Badagry town was founded by a farmer named Agbedeh, he lived in Gberefu Island and has a farm at the other end of the Lagoon (Now Badagry). He had a big farm which was named after him.

Agbedeh is a native of Ogu and farm in his language can be translated as Greme. So his farm was nicknamed Agbedeh Greme (Agbedeh’s farm). His popularity grew and the Yoruba settlers nicknamed it Agbadagiri. When the Europeans came during the pre-colonial trade, for easy pronunciation they coined the name Badagry. That was how the name Badagry came into existence.
The people of Badagry are mostly the migrant from Dahomey and the Awori’s from South-West Nigeria.

About the Badagry Heritage Museum

The Badagry Heritage Museum is divided into eight different sections showcasing different relics within the museum. It holds hundreds of slave and historical relics covering the over 300 years of slavery in Nigeria.
The Badagry Heritage Museum is a remembrance of the slave trade era and a place where we can look back to see how far we have gone as a people. It also features artefacts, drawings, paintings and sculptures from the slave trade era.
Badagry Heritage Museum has an impressive collection of artefacts and relics dating as far back as 300 years.

Sections of the Badagry Heritage Museum

1. The Introductory Gallery: this section gives an introduction to Badagry, the people, culture, rulers, the leadership and the past leaders in Nigeria.

2. The Capture: This section is an emotional one, it houses some relics of slavery like the chains that were used to tie slaves, there are also pictures of slaves in captivity and some of the instruments used in torturing and capturing slaves such as the mouth muzzles, the handcuffs etc.

3. Transportation: This section explains how slaves were transported and it has a replica of the ship that were used to transport slaves during the slave trade era. The ships were also used to export other organic products from Badagry.

4. The equipment: This is a section for some of the equipment and machinery used during the slave trade era. It has a safe which is hundred of years old which contains documents dating hundred of years. It also contains files and currencies used during the slave trade era.

5. The Resistance and Punishment: The section has the statue of a dog trying to strangle a slave that is trying to escape. There are different reasons why a slave could be punished, it could either be as a result of disobedience, stealing, rebellion etc. There are different object used in There are different kinds of slave the domestic and the field slaves. The domestic ones are the one that works within the homes and do the bidding of the slave master while the field slaves are the ones that work in the field.

6. The Industry: This further explains the process of the slave trade industry, how the slaves are captured, how they were stored in the slave barracoon until the slave masters are ready to pick them. Once the slave masters come, they are auctioned off at the slave market, the fit slaves are then sent to the ship after they must have been examined and stamped fit by the ship surgeon. Each slave is branded with the initials of the slave master for easy recognition.

7. Ther Integration: This section shows how the slave dealers adapted the slaves into the new environment to ensure they get the best out of them.

8. The Abolition: This section gives more information about the people and the heroes who fought for the abolition of the slave trade. It also gives more information about the end of slavery and the heroic story of a woman who saved over 300 people from their slavery.

After slavery was abolished, slavery continued for many years in so many parts of the world and even though slavery was illegal.
After decades and centuries, Slavery is not a thing of the past, it still exists in our present-day world.

Things to Do at At Badagry Heritage Museum

• Learn about the slave trade
• Learn about the culture, the people and the history of Badagry
• See the slave trade relics
• Organise a picnic to the slave port
• Take pictures

Location/Address of the Badagry Heritage Museum

Black Heritage Museum is located at Black Heritage Museum Marina along GRA Road, Badagry, Lagos.

Opening Hours at The Museum

The museum opens Mondays to Saturday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
The museum is closed on Sundays

In conclusion, the Badagry Heritage museum still stands as a remembrance of slavery, as a source of hope, unity, strength and the struggle of black people. It is sad after many years, slavery still exists in subtle forms all around the world. Racism is still the order of the day. Even after many years, we are still screaming black lives matter. We hope someday the world will be free from prejudice.

Other Tourist Sites in Badagry

Mobee Slave Relics Museum
First Storey Building In Nigeria
Agia Tree Monument
Point of No Return
Whispering Palms Badagry
Seriki Abbass Slave Museum
First Primary School in Nigeria